He is a French sculptor, born in 1921 in Marseille of Italian parents. His full name is César Baldaccini, but he is usually known as César. He studied at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Marseille, from 1935 to 1939 and at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris from 1943 to 1948.

 

He started to make sculptures by weldingtogether pieces of scrap metal in 1952 and he first made his reputation with solid welded sculptures of insects, various kinds of animals, nudes, etc. His first one-man exhibition took place at the Galerie Lucien Durand in Paris in 1954.

 

In 1960, he began to make compressions by compressing car bodies into dense packages and later the same year, he joined the group Nouveaux Réalistes with Arman, Klein, Raysse, Tinguely, Pierre Restany and others.

 

In 1965, he started work with plastics, first with plastic moulds of human imprints, then from 1966 by pouring expanded polyurethane which was allowed to expand and solidify. He gave up making welded metal sculpture in 1966.

 

He organised a series of Happenings from 1967 to 1970 in which he produced expansions in the presence of an audience. His later works also include sculptures made out of molten crystal. 

 

He also created the French film industry’s annual award, the "César".

 

He died in 1998.